Method of and mechanism for treating stereotype matrices



NOV. 14, 1933. G M. CLARK METHOD OF AND MECHANISM FOR TREATING STEREOTYPE MATRICES Filed May 20. 1951 A 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7/ W 7/ 7f Z", w

zw/ 7/ M Q G. M. CLARK 1,935,352

METHOD OF AND MECHANISM FOR TREATING STEREOTYPE MATRICES Nov. 14, 1933.

Filed May 20, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I 172% wgyafi/W i,

Patented Nov. 14, 1933 hair METHOD OF AND MECHANISM. FOR TREAT- ING STEREOTYPE MATRICES George M. Clark, Lynn, Mass;

Application May 20, 1931. Serial No. 538,757 ,8 Claims. (Cl. 210-66) In the preparation of stereotype plates a flat paper matrix sheet containing from 12% to 15% of moisture is laid on the type surface of the forme and the forme, matrix sheet and a superposed matrix blanket are run through the nip between pressure matrix rollers, this causing the type to be deeply impressed in the matrix sheet. This sheet, after being suitably conditioned, is used to form a curved mold face. against which molten metal is cast to form the stereotype plate. The impressing of the type in the matrix causes this sheet to warp and buckle and heretofore so far as I am aware no entirely satisfactory method or mechanism for accurately and quickly shaping and drying it has been developed. If the matrix does not lie over any'areas firmly against the inner face of the mold chamber, the stereotype plate will print lightly or not at all at those areas. As the matrix dries, moreover, it shrinks and if the drying is not uniform this shrinkage is uneven which results in the lines of thetype in the curved plate being non-parallel and often in portions of the lines being cut away when the edges of the plate are trimmedlpreparatory to assembly on the printing cylinders.

In accordance with the present invention-the vation and partly in vertical section, through the forming and drying machine. 7 V

Figures 2 and 3 are horizontal sections on lines 2--2 and 3-3, respectively, of Figure 1, Figure 2 also showing a wiringdiagram for the heating units.

Figure 4 is a perspective partlybroken awayshowing the rotating tube for carrying the matrix, together with related parts. Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional. detail to a larger scale showing the'matrix and tube;

Referring to the drawings, at 1 is indicated a base formed with a central opening 2-therethrough. Projecting upwardly from this base are three posts indicated generally at 3, which support at their upper ends an annular bottom wall 4 of a cylindrical casing 5.

prises alined tubular m embers lo and 11 sepa- Each post 3 com rated by a perforated arm portion 12.0f a central spider '13, these parts being held together by a bolt 14 having its head 15 seated in a socket 16 in the lower face of the base 1 and engaged at its upper end in a threaded opening 17 in'a boss 18 projecting downwardly from the bottom wall 4. The spider 13 is provided with a plurality of downwardly and inwardly turned arm portions 20 from and on the under side of which is hung by bolts 21 an electric motor 22, this motor being of an outside diameter sufficiently small to be passed through the opening 2 of the base in order to facilitate its assembly or detachment from the-remainder of the mechanism. This motor is provided with a vertical armature shaft 24 which 7 may be coupled through the coupling collars 25 and 26 with their interposed resilient disk to a vertical shaft 28. The collar 25 is carried by the armature shaft and the collar 26 by the shaft 28. This vertical shaft extends through a bearing member 30 which is provided with ball bearings 31 at its upper end and ball bearings 32 at its lower end. The shaft 28 is provided with a shouldered portion'33 which restson the inner race of the ball bearing 32 and this ball bearing 0, is supported from the lower end of the bearing member 30 as by thering 35 bolted thereto; This lowerbearing, therefore, acts as a thrust bear ing to take the weight of the shaft 28 and the parts supported thereby. The bearing 30 is 5 mountedto float yieldingly so that it can adapt itself to the forces transmitted to it as the shaft 28 and the parts carried thereby are rotated at. various speeds, includingthe critical speed above which the shaft 28 an'd'its supported parts rotate about their gravity axis rather than about their geometrical axis. To this end the bearing 30 is yieldingly supported the spider 13. This spider is provided with a receptacle portion 40 having a centrally perforated lower wall 41 on which rests r a washer of rubber or similar yieldable material as 42. On the upper face of thiswasher rests a fiange 44 projecting outwardlyfromthe central hub portion 45 of the bearing 30 and resting on this flange is another resilient washer 48 similar to the washer '42. These washers and the flange therebetween are retained in position by a ring member50 fixed on the upper edge of the re- 1 ceptacle portion 40 and projecting inwardly over the washer 48. The flange portion 44 is of somewhat less diameterthan the inner face of the receptacle 40 so that the bearing member'is permitted a considerable yielding lateral play :to adapt itself to the rotational forces imparted to the-shaft 28 of the motor 22. The spider 13 is provided with strengthening flanges 52 and 53 which serve to reinforce the various parts without adding materially to the weight of the spider. It will be seen that the motor and the shaft 28 are supported at three points spaced angularly by the posts 3.

The bottom wall member 4 is provided with an upturned marginal flange which surrounds the lower end of a cylindrical side wall 61. As shown this wall is formed by an annular channelshaped lower member 62 having its flanges upwardly directed and an annular top member 64 having downwardly directed annular flanges 65, 66 and 67 united by vertical curved plates 63 and 68 fixed to the outer face of the lower member 62 and to the inner faces of the flanges 64 and 66 of the upper member and which form spaced walls between which is placed heat insulating packing of asbestos or the like as at 69. The upper wall 64 is provided with a grooved rim portion 70 against which may be seated a removable cover member 71. This cover member is provided with a dome shaped upper wall '72 having spaced lugs 73 extending downwardly there from to which may be fixed a disk shaped plate '74 which holds heat insulating packing '75 in position between this plate and the portion '72. A bell crank lever 77 fulcrumed as at 7 8 and pivoted to suitable lugs on the cover member at '79 may be used to close or open the cover member. Inwardly of the side wall plate 68 the bottom wall member 1 supports an annular plate 80 of heat insulating material through the central opening of which the shaft 28 projects and on the upper face of this plate is supported a metal ring 81 which forms one portion of a cylindrical cage or frame. This cage is provided with an upper metal ring 82, these rings being spaced apart by :the tubular spacers 83 through which are extended the tie rods 84. This cage or frame provides means for supporting the electric heating units as which may be attached at their ends to the rings 81 and 82. Within this frame, which a carries the electric heating units, the shaft 28 has fixed thereto a light weight tubular receptacle made of aluminum or the like shown detached in Figure 4. This receptacle is open at its upper end where it is provided with an outwardly turned flange 101. Its lower end is closed off by a disk member having a marginal upwardly extending flange 106 to the outer face of which the tubelOO is suitably secured. Centrally the portion 105 has an upwardly extending hub. portion 107 which may be provided with a tapered bore 108 to receive the upper tapered extremiiy of the shaft 28. These may be brought into tight engagement as by means of a screw 109 and washer 109a, the washer. resting on the top of the hub 107 and the screw being threaded into the upper end of the shaft 28. The flange 106 and the lower end of the tube 100 are provided with mating openings 110 through which air may be passed, and in order to create a current of air through these openings, a fan 111 is provided.

7 form an air passage therebetween.

, j it may be rotated as the receptacle is rotated,

means such as screws 116 may be threaded up time in conn ction with through the base member 105 in position to contact with any of the blades 115 so as to carry the fan around as the tube is being rotated. Rotation of the tube thus causes the fan to take air in from the inside of the tubular receptacle, force it out through the openings 116 into the space between the receptacle and the inner wall of the insulated casing in which are positioned the heating elements, the air thus being heated and being passed upwardly within the casing flange 6? and down through from the top of the tubular receptacle. There is thus created by the rotation of this receptacle a strong current of air which passes upwardly about the heating units outside of the tubular receptacle and then down therewithin.

The tubular receptacle 106 is designed t receive the matrix which, after the type has een. impressed therein, is curved up sumciently so that it can be placed in the tubular receptacle as shown at 120 in Figures 4 and 5. This matrix is then in a damp somewhat soft condition so that when the receptacle is spun at a high rate of speed centrifugal force causes its outer face to press firmly against the inner smooth wall of the tube 100 thus to smooth out buckles, puckers or other uneven portions resulting from the buckling'or other distortion of the material arising through the impressing of the type thereinto. The tube 100 is provided at suitable intervals with small perforations therethrough through which water from the moist matrix may be expelled. These perforations are of sufficiently small diameter so that they. do not form marks on the outer face of the matrix due to the pressure of the matrix thereon under centrifugal force. They should not exceed about of an inch in diameter. As the outer face of the matrix is broken up more or less by the type impressions, channels are thus formed in the outer face which permit the water to pass over. substantial areas to these perforations 25, and by permitting the escape of water in this manner the amount which it is necessary to remove by drying is reduced.

Where there are substantial matrix areas which 'carry no type impressions and are not depressed,

these representing areas over which no printing is to be effected, it may be found necessary to place strips of felt or the like as at 126 on the other faces to prevent these areas from being drawn outwardlyby centrifugalforce into contact with the tube wall in which position they would permit the plate cast thereagainst to print. The use of these strips however, is usual pracmatrices.

The matrix having been placed in the tube and the cover 71 closed, the motor is then brought up to high speed rapidly, not only causing the matrix to be properly conformed to the wall of the tube but also to cause it to be dried out so that it is reduced to firm condition. The matrix may fill substantially the entire OilClllllfQl'eIlCii of the tube 100 or it may be curved to fit a portion only, such as one-half thereof, in which case two matrices maybe treated together, or-the unfilled portion of the complete arc may be occupied by a dummy spacer which may be made of aluminum or other light material in order to better balance the rothe conditioning of pan . diametrically opposite to each other.

gravity axis a considerable wabbling of the rotating partsmay occur. The depending flange 67 of the outer casing acts with the 'top flange 101 of the rotary tubular receptacle as a s'afety device so that if the tubular, receptacle is improperly loaded so that it is far from balanced, the flange 101 contacts with the flange 67, this contact acting as a brake to sufficiently reduce the speed of the rotation so that it cannot rise above its critical speed and the noise occasioned by this rubbing calls attention of the operator to' the fact that the tubular receptacle is improperly loaded. The

. motor may be stopped by electric braking control,

as is well known in the electrical industry, or if desired a mechanical brake maybe employed for this purpose. As shown in Figure 1 the shaft coupling member 26 is formed as a brake drum about which is positioned a brake band 130, one

end of which may be fixed and the other engaged over a pin 131 in the lower end of an arm 132 carried by a brake shaft 133 having an actuating handle 134 at its upper end.

When desired the casing surrounding the rotating parts may be removed by merely removing bolts such as 135 which secure the ring 62 to the bottom wall 4, it being ordinarily sulficient to use a pair only of such bolts situated At140 is shown a switchboard secured at its lower end as by the screw 141 to the base member 1 and somewhat below its upper end as by a screw 142 to the flange 60. This switchboard may carry the control mechanism for the motor and also control mechanism for the electric heating units. This may include a thermostat control for regulating within the desiredlimits the temperature of the air being circulated, a temperature responsive bulb element within the casing being shown at 145 on Figure 1 from whicha tube 146 leads to a suitable electrical control device (not shown but well known in the art) on the switchboard 140. The case or frame which supports the heating elements also acts through its metal parts as a heat balancing device tending to prevent-rapid fluctuations of temperature, due for example to opening or closing the cover, these parts absorbing heat when the cover is closed and giving it off again to the air when the temw perature of this air drops for any cause momentarily. It will be noted that the switchboard is entirely separate from the casing so that the removal of this casing in no way disturbs the electrical wiring to the motor or the heating In Figure 2 is shown diagrammaticallyone arrangement of heating units by which three ranges of heat may be produced, low, high and moderate, designated by the corresponding letters on the control switch 150. At the low heat,

two of the units alone are energized; at the moderate heat four are energized, and at the high heat all are energized. This particular control mechanism per se, however, forms no part of this invention, there being various hook-ups which can be employed as desired to produce the desired graduations in temperature.

-From theforegoing description of this invention and of an apparatus by which the desired treatment of the matrix may be carried out, it should be evident'to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications might be made without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention as defined by the appended claims. r

I claim: 1. The method of conditioning amoist stereotype matrix, which comprises curving said matrix to substantially the desired contour, and while supporting substantially its entire surface against undesired outward movement, rotating said matrix about substantially its axis of curvature at high speed. c

2. The method of conditioning a moist stereotype matrix, which comprises curving said matrix to substantially the desired contour, and while supporting substantially its entire surface against undesired outward movement, rotating said matrix about substantially its axis of curvature at high speed, and drying said matrix while it is being rotated. V

3. The method of conditioning a moist stereotype matrix, which comprises curving said matrix to substantially the desired contour, and while supporting substantially its entire surface against undesired outward movement, rotating said matrix about substantially its axis of curva ture at high speed, and passing a current of hot, dry air across the inner face of said matrix while it is being rotated. I

4. A mechanism of the class described comprising a casing, a cylindrical tube mounted for rotation within said casing and within which a matrix in curved condition may be placed, said tube having one end open and the other closed, a shaft fixed to said closed end by which said tube may be rotated, said tube having openings therethrough adjacent to said closed end, a fan member within said tube at said closed end and rotatable therewith and having blades positioned to take air from within said tube and discharge said air through said openings, heating means in said casing outwardly of said tube, and means for rotating said shaft at high speed.

5. In a machine of the class described, an upright tubular member open at its upper end, a closure for the lower end of said member comprising a disk having a marginal upwardly extending flange engageable' with the inner face of said member and a central shaft receiving hub, said member and flange having mating openings therethrough, a fan having a plate portion resting on the upper edge of said flange within said member and having downwardly extending blades, and means rotatable with said member for engaging and imparting rotation to said fan.

6. A mechanism of the class described comprisof said shaft within said casing, a switchboard fixed to said base and to said bottom wall and free from said side and top walls, whereby said side and top walls may be removed without disturbing said switchboard, and control devices for said motor carried by said switchboard.

7. A mechanism of the class described comprising a casing having an annular bottom wall, side walls and a top wall including a central removable cover, said side walls and top wall being supported on and detachably secured to said bottom wall, a base, posts rising from said base and fixed to said bottom wall, a motor fixed between said posts, a vertical shaft driven by said motor and extending up through the central opening in said bottom wall, a receptacle carried by the upper end of .said shaft within said casing, heating units supported by said bottom wall within said casing and outwardly of said receptacle, a. switchboard fixed to said base and to said bottom wall and free from said side and top Wall's, whereby said side and top walls may be removed Without disturbing saidswitchboard, and control devices for said motorv and heating units carried by said switchboard,

8. A mechanism of the class describedcomprising a cylindrical casing having heat insulatin walls, a cylindrical tube rotatable within saidcasing and within which a matrix in curved vcon"- dition may be placed, a cylindrical cage surround-- ing and spaced vfrom said tube and within said casing, said cage having end ring members, a plurality of electric heatingrunits extending vbetween and fixed to said end ring members, and means for controlling the supply of electrical energy to said elements.

GEORGE M. CLARK. 

